Terms of Use

Alumni.harvard.edu, the online community for Harvard alumni, comprises a suite of online services provided by Harvard University Alumni Affairs and Development (AA&D) to facilitate communication both among individual members of the Harvard alumni community and between the alumni community and Harvard for personal or University-related purposes. All alumni information is strictly reserved for use by individual alumni and AA&D for personal and University-related purposes only.

I. Policy and Guidelines for Proper Use

To safeguard the operation of alumni.harvard.edu, AA&D has adopted some basic guidelines and policies to govern proper use and conduct, particularly conduct that occurs in an online environment. Users of alumni.harvard.edu must abide by the following specific Policies and guidelines:

A. You may download or copy any downloadable materials displayed on alumni.harvard.edu for home, noncommercial and personal use only; provided, however, that you maintain all copyright, trademark and other notices contained in such material and you agree to abide by all additional copyright notices or restrictions contained in any material accessed through alumni.harvard.edu.  Unauthorized copying, reproduction, republishing, uploading, downloading, posting, transmitting or duplicating of any of the material is prohibited.

B. Information available through alumni.harvard.edu may be used for personal and University-approved purposes only. Use of information or communications available through alumni.harvard.edu for any commercial, public or political purposes is strictly prohibited. Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to: (1) activities that are illegal or fraudulent; (2) use that inaccurately implies endorsement, approval, or sponsorship by Harvard University or AA&D (or any individual officer of Harvard or AA&D); (3) use that can be confused with official communications of Harvard University, AA&D or their officers; (4) use that can be confused with official communications of Harvard Clubs, class officers, official HAA Shared Interest Groups, or other authorized alumni leaders; and (5) print or electronic mass mailings (sometimes known as "spamming"), solicitations for commercial services, or cold-calling.

Posting of obscene or vulgar materials or use of obscene or vulgar language, or use of abusive, defamatory, profane, or threatening language of any kind, will constitute a violation of these policies governing the use of alumni.harvard.edu. Determination of whether specific postings violate these policies shall be at the sole discretion of AA&D. Users shall also not upload, transmit, distribute or otherwise publish any materials containing a virus or any other harmful component.

AA&D may deny further access to these services to those who engage in these or similar practices. These terms also apply to any message boards and class notes functionality, which are provided by alumni.harvard.edu as another means of alumni communication.

C. User accounts may not be shared, transferred, or sold to other parties, nor are they to be used by or made available to any person or entity except the registered alumni user. Additionally, users shall not restrict nor inhibit any other user from enjoying any service on alumni.harvard.edu.

D. All email forwarding aliases adopted by alumni.harvard.edu users are subject to approval by AA&D. Furthermore, Harvard alumni email forwarding addresses should not be used as official business addresses.

E. AA&D is not responsible for screening communications in advance, and will not routinely monitor the use of the alumni.harvard.edu. AA&D, however, reserves the right to reorganize or delete any postings or add and remove message board topics.  Notes posted to the message boards will remain for 30 days, after which they may be deleted.  Alumni users of alumni.harvard.edu may report any abuses or misuse of alumni.harvard.edu by contacting the Help Desk. If AA&D determines that a user's participation in alumni.harvard.edu creates a risk of liability for AA&D or the University, or that the user has violated the policies set forth herein or any applicable laws or regulations, AA&D reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to expel a user and deny further access to alumni.harvard.edu.  

F. If you believe that any content posted to alumni.harvard.edu infringes your copyrights, please click here:  http://www.harvard.edu/reporting-copyright-infringements.

II. Liability and Indemnity

The reliability of the information available through alumni.harvard.edu is  dependent upon the actions of its users. AA&D can make no representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of this information.

AA&D does not warrant that the alumni.harvard.edu web site will operate error-free or that the site and its server are free of computer viruses or other harmful material. To the fullest extent permitted by the law, AA&D disclaims all warranties, including the warranties of merchantability, non-infringement, and fitness for particular purpose. In no event shall AA&D or the University be liable for any damages whatsoever, including, without limitation, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, resulting from the use of or inability to use information or materials available on alumni.harvard.edu.

Please note that AA&D may revise these policies and your continued use of the site constitutes your agreement to comply with such modifications. You should review the policies periodically to ensure that you are familiar with them.

AA&D expects users to exhibit the same level of respect for others in these forums as in any other AA&D-related venue (such as at a reunion event on campus or on the premises of a Harvard Club).

AA&D may deny access to alumni.harvard.edu to any individual at any time. Participation in alumni.harvard.edu is a privilege.